Bryan Caceres continued to hit his stride as the Wilmington Blue Rocks took down the Brooklyn Cyclones 6-2 on Wednesday, July 10.  

Caceres has been gearing up the last couple of weeks, and securing the win in this one gives him three wins in his last four starts.  

“I think he’s just adjusting,” Maxwell Romero Jr. said. “He’s learning how to adjust pitch to pitch instead of inning to inning, which is huge at this level. It’s beyond this level, so what he’s doing is awesome. I think he’s learning a lot and his [velocity] is showing it too. I’m happy for him, I really am.”

After starting the season 0-5, Caceres has looked like a new man on the mound. The walks have been down over the last two weeks, and he has done a phenomenal job getting himself out of tough situations.  

“He did a good job today making adjustments within the start between pitches,” manager Mario Lisson said. “That was the key, I think. There were a couple times he was a little funky, but he got back on track and was able to throw five innings for us today.”

There were multiple interruptions in the fifth frame for Caceres, when Brooklyn’s manager Gilbert Gomez and left fielder Christopher Suero were each ejected from the contest. Suero was flustered about borderline strike calls in his at-bat where he lined out, and Gomez was irate after a ball was called foul that likely would’ve tied the game at one. Caceres worked out of the inning without a run.  

“I think he’s doing a wonderful job being able to adjust with things like that,” Romero said. “That long inning we had with ejections, he handled that well. He stayed focused really well, and that just speaks highly of him.”

Wilmington didn’t have much going offensively early on but scored a run in the third, thanks to a double from Romero and a single by T.J. White.  

“Just get a good pitch to hit and kind of get going,” Romero said. “I think at that moment we didn’t have any hits yet, but we wanted to get going and I’m glad I was able to come in and score.”

The hit for White marked 11 straight games with a hit after his cold start to the season. It’s unclear if he knew it was 11 games because his reaction when asked was priceless.

“[The ball is] looking pretty big right now,” White said. “I hate that you told me that, now I’m thinking about it. It feels good, just seeing the ball in my zone and not missing it.”

The Blue Rocks offense delivered in the seventh to add some insurance on the short lead. Three walks loaded the bases for White, who laced a single up the middle to score two. Viandel Pena singled in another run and Jeremy De La Rosa doubled home two more to give the Blue Rocks a commanding 6-0 lead.

“Yeah, for me [runners in scoring position] just brings in an extra focus,” White said.  “Now I really have to lock in and get a pitch in my zone. I can’t just go up there and swing at whatever. I think it’s very important. The hardest three outs to get are the last three outs of the game. I think getting four or however many we got there was very important.”

The bullpen held on long enough to keep the big lead and keep Caceres in line for the win. The Cyclones did score two in the last two innings, but Marlon Perez and Miguel Gomez combined for three innings of great pitching while the offense got going.  

“Very good man,” Lisson said. “Marlon and Gomez did a good job. We ask them to come in and compete, stay in the zone and attack with their stuff and they’ve done that. It feels good when you have the lead and they can secure it. It gives you confidence and it helps the offense stay positive and keep driving.”

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